List of commercials for the Metroid series

Contents

The Japanese Metroid commercial was the first Metroid commercial in existence. A view of the Milky Way Galaxy is seen as a beam shot is fired at it. An explosion occurs with SamusSpin Jumping out of it, and landing on a Famicom Disk System cartridge, aiming at the screen as the Metroid game logo is shown at the bottom of the screen. Short clips of footage from the game are seen as the commercial cuts back to the live action Samus, who is running, with the Power Suit giving off a large cloud of steam as she jumps into the screen and turns into her 8-bit self. Samus flies out of a beam of light to conclude the commercial. [1]

There are three American commercials for Metroid. The first commercial features a young boy playing the game, performing several acrobatic moves and being teleported into the screen at the end. A commercial for the game Rad Racer then plays. Throughout the commercial, a man is speaking, "The challenge is Metroid, the power is Nintendo! Defend the planet Zebes against the evil Mother Brain! It's survival, or destruction! To battle, or to die! Metroid, only for Nintendo!"[2]

The second commercial does not specifically advertise Metroid, but has a reference to it. In a Toys R Us commercial, a man and his son go to several stores looking for NES games, including a fictional Tourian store called Kraid's Toy Shop, until they enter Toys R Us. Metroid is one of the games on display at the end of the commercial. [3] The third commercial is another, much shorter Toys R Us advertisement, with Metroid being on display at the end along with Punch-out!!, The Legend of Zelda and Duck Hunt. [4]

The Japanese commercial for Metroid II is a mix of comic book art, live action and a toy action figure of Samus. The commercial begins showing Samus' Gunship landing, with a cloud of gas. The Game Boy logo is above the ship as Samus walks into the caverns of SR388. As she stands at the entrance, her Power Suit turns into the Varia Suit. A first-person view of Samus' visor is shown as she sees a Gawron swooping down at her. She aims at an Octroll that rises out of a pool of Water, Screw Attacks up to a ledge, falls down a shaft and shoots a Gullugg and Skreek. At the end of the commercial, we see Samus being attacked by an Omega Metroid. The focus zooms into Samus' Arm Cannon as the Missile hatch opens and explodes. The logo can be seen in front of the explosion. The last scene is of Samus' helmet, with footage of an Omega Metroid battle ingame reflected off the helmet. Throughout the trailer, a man speaks in Japanese: "Introducing﻿ Metroid II, the action game that's causing waves in America! As metroids increase in power, find all the items. With countless enemies and bosses to destroy along the way, it's the ultimate in game excitement! Now on Gameboy: Metroid II!" The end of the commercial features the infamous phrase "Metroid... Omoroido!" [6]

There are four Metroid II-themed commercials. The first depicts a human male face forming out of SR388 terrain, narrating the commercial as footage ingame is played. The dialogue is: "Be afraid. Be very afraid. One life-sucking Metroid survived the first Metroid adventure, and it's multiplying rapidly! You must help Samus save the universe again! In Metroid II. So we're giving you more power, and mightier weapons, to search a bigger world! Destroy, or be destroyed! The future is in your hands!" The dialogue is slightly inconsistent with the game as the Metroids on SR388 were there before the events of Metroid, rather than one Metroid surviving the first game and rapidly multiplying. When this is heard, many enemies in game (such as Moheeks, Skreeks and Hornoads) multiply and cause the terrain of SR388 to deteriorate. [7]

The Japanese commercial depicts the beginning events of the game, with the baby in its stasis tube being analyzed by Lab Workers with the Bioreactor System. The lights flicker before a siren sounds. A silhouette of Ridley is shown before the baby's capsule is seen carried away in his talon. Samus notices and throws her lab coat off, running to her Power Suit in her Justin Bailey. The last scene depicts her ship in live action, flying to Zebes. Some game footage is shown before the Nintendo logo and a chime from Mario plays. [10]

There were also two Play it Loud commercials with footage from the Crocomire and Mother Brain battles. [11][12]

This article's name is an unofficial translation from official Japanese media
and may not represent the canonical English name, if one exists.
An alternate name from an official source may be required.

On Mar. 19, 2014, the 20th anniversary of Super Metroid, the Metroid Database released a reel of Japanese commercials for the game, featuring gameplay footage with narrations by a voice actress as Samus.[13] The commercials reveal that Super Metroid is set in Cosmic Calendar year 20X7, which would be two years after Metroid/Zero Mission. The reel is split into four segments: Invasion, Battle, Alone and Mother.

“

THE BABY METROID WHO WAS CARRIED BACKFROM SR-388 WERE BROUGHT IN S.S.A.AND IT IS STUDIED THE SPECIAL ECOLOGYMODE.

„

—Introduction text

“

Samus: Cosmic Calendar 20X7. Research on the Baby Metroid, the mysterious life-form I brought back from Planet SR-388... was going smoothly. However...Narrator: The Baby Metroid has been stolen! Get it back immediately!Samus: My name is Samus Aran. My deadly battle with the Metroids has begun again.Narrator: The Space Pirates have rebuilt their fortress on Planet Zebes! It's hidden underground! We're counting on you!

„

—First advertisement

“

Landing in a downpour of acid rain, I made my way alone to the underground fortress.Why is it so quiet here...?I was tense, when suddenly... an enormous Chozo Statue appeared before me!An item!Now if I can just get out of this eerie place...Gasp! Enemies!I kept firing relentlessly.Don't mess with me!

„

—Samus; Invasion

“

My daily struggle with life and death continued. The ferocity of my battle grew daily.They... just keep jumping at me!What is this place?Something's coming! What IS that thing?It looks like this creature is the boss of this area!Eat this!

„

—Samus; Battle

“

Further ahead lay the dark underground fortress.Argh! This infernal labyrinth! There's no way out!Ugh! If this keeps up, I'll be trapped here!I can't go even one step further!My days of agony and frustration continued, until finally...A way through! Now I can move forward a little.

„

—Samus; Alone

“

I don't know how much time has passed since I infiltrated Zebes.My powers grow with each battle.The Baby Metroid! I definitely heard it just now! The Baby Metroid is calling for me!I was the first thing it saw when it was born, so the Baby Metroid thinks I'm its mother.I am the only one who can get it out of here! I will never forgive them!Ugh! No!I was struck by the intense heat of the lava.Power Suit: Danger! Danger! Remaining Energy: 10, 9, 8...If I can't get out of here, I'm done for!Narrator: It's an intense science fiction action game! Super Metroid for the Super Famicom! We hope you'll succeed in your mission as quickly as possible.

This commercial is split into 2 parts. The first part begins by showing the game's box against a space background, with the announcer saying "Super Metroid" in German. The commercial then cuts to Samus battling Ridley in the Ceres space colony. Worth mentioning is that in the video, Samus has the Charge Beam, which in game cannot be obtained until the player reaches Zebes. The commercial then changes to footage of Samus in Norfair. In this video, Samus has the Screw Attack. Next is a segment where Samus is battling Metroids in Maridia, which only appear in Tourian in the final game. Then the commercial goes to a clip of Samus battling the Spore Spawn, but with much more equipment than she would normally have at that point in the game. The final clip shows Samus firing the Wave Beam at Mini Kraid. At the beginning of the second part, the commercial shows a moon sky background with piano music playing and cursive text showing on the screen, before the music cuts to heavy metal and game footage with non-cursive text appearing onscreen. Before the commercial ends, the moon background and cursive text is shown again, one final time. The text during the commercial translates to: "A woman seeks her place in an unforgiving world. A universe of terrible Metroids, with one goal, her life. NINTENDO PRESENTS: ONLY FOR SUPER NINTENDO. 24 MEGS, 6 GIGANTIC WORLDS. That is no world for a lady."[15]

The Japanese commercial is the sister to the American commercial. This one depicts live action versions of the opening scene where Samus is having her surgery at Galactic Federation Headquarters. Her eyes can be seen through her visor, and bits of gooey yellow compounds, X Parasites, crawl on her suit. A Metroid, presumably the Baby is seen before cables fall and Samus awakes in her Fusion Suit. Game footage then follows. [16]

This is the first live-action commercial to be released in America. It takes place in a location called the "Metroid Fusion Bio-Lab", an area containing Hornoads and Kihunters. Samus shoots a Hornoad then takes down the group of Kihunters with a Missile. As she closes the Missile hatch on her Arm Cannon, several X Parasites are absorbed by her. At the end of the commercial, the SA-X (whose costume appears to have been reused from Metroid Prime) drops in and stares at Samus. Samus fires a Missile at it as the commercial ends. A narrator speaks at the end: "Exterminating evil gives you strength. But are you strong enough to face your greatest fear? Metroid Fusion. Only on Game Boy Advance. Rated E for Everyone."[17]

Two commercials were released for Prime in Japan. Both commercials were the first Japanese advertisements for the game that did not contain any live-action footage. Gameplay shown in the two commercials differ. Notably, all Visors are shown, with screenshots of their HUD view absorbed into Samus' own visor in the Thermal Visor acquisition cutscene. [18][19]

This commercial begins with live action footage of Japanese actress Chisato Morishita portraying Zero Suit Samus, navigating through a tunnel. As she crawls, several beams of light fly past her, these are presumably Space Pirate weapon fire. Samus regains her Power Suit as footage of the Kraid, Mua and Ridley boss battles ingame are shown as well as the actual ingame Zero Suit sequence. The last scene shows Samus in her Power Suit walking away from an explosion. A 30 second version can be found here: [20] and 15 second here:
[21]

The commercial is one of several in a series of "Who Are You?" advertisements, depicting players acquiring the skills of their favorite video game characters. The commercial is depicted in a gymnasium setting. A girl (presumably Samus) is seen performing numerous back flips before Spin Jumping through the air (the motion of which is identical to the spin jump of Zero Suit Samus in the game) before landing on the gym mat. Game footage then follows. [22]

Two non-live action commercials were released for Echoes in Japan. The first consists of gameplay footage, with battle music playing, in between clips of text in Japanese. The only English sentence is "She is back.", referring to Samus. [23]

The second one has the Dark Echoes theme, mixed in with fast-paced clips of gameplay that seem to be synced to the music. [24]

Three commercials were released for Echoes in North America. The first consists of minor clips of gameplay footage, as well as some sound effects (most noticeably Space Pirate grunting), and the message "If you weren't afraid of the dark before, you will be." The commercial ends with a different message, "Protect the light." [25]

The second commercial was in live-action, part of the series of Who Are You? commercials. More information can be found here.

The third commercial is noticeably more aggressive, featuring electric guitar music played alongside fast-paced gameplay footage, with game site reviews inserted in between. [26]

The Canadian commercial has been heavily panned for its lack of connection to the game. Filmed at Burnaby North Secondary School in British Columbia, it features a female high school student mourning the loss of her friend "Mike". She had lost him to Echoes, presumably because he became addicted. The end of the commercial features a narrator saying that "millions of people would lose loved ones" to the game. [27]

The only commercial for the game shows a man in a cafeteria, noticing some lettuce and touching the glass. An explosion occurs on the lettuce as he leaves. Gameplay footage then follows. A voice speaks during the commercial: "If it gets in your way, touch it, blast it." The commercial ends with the caption "touching is good." This is referring to the controls of the demo, which involve tapping a creature on the touch screen to shoot it. [29]

Two Japanese commercials were released for the game, and both of them are somewhat identical.

The first features an American Trace player and a Japanese Samus player fighting on Alinos Perch. After Trace snipes Samus, she falls down from the top of the cliff, and some footage of multiplayer matches are shown before the commercial ends.[31]

In the second commercial, the two players from the first commercial along with two new ones are seen fighting on Combat Hall. The two players from the first commercial use Trace and Samus once again, and the two new players use Spire and Weavel, the former of whom is killed by another snipe.[32]

The first is similar to the Japanese commercial, featuring two Asian players competing once again on Alinos Perch, using Samus and Trace once again. The catch is that this time, Trace is positioned on the cliff, while Samus is at the bottom, supposedly unsuspecting. As Trace is about to snipe, Samus notices, dodges and fires a shot at Trace. More gameplay footage is shown before the end.[33]

The second is essentially a remake of the Japanese commercial. The two Asian players from the first commercial "reprise" their roles as Trace and Samus, while two new players use Sylux and Weavel. From the top of the room, Weavel is sniped and killed by Trace.[34]

The third commercial actually shows some story mode footage, such as Samus fighting Spire, the Arctic Spawn, a Cretaphid and rolling through a tunnel.[35]

The Spanish commercial is rather short, and features the singers of the popular duo Estopa in a desert-like area with several planets in the background. One of the men is wearing Samus' helmet, and the other is wearing the shoulders of the Varia Suit and the Arm Cannon. Some brief gameplay footage is shown after the men disappear. Interestingly, a black Luminoth and an Ing can be seen in the background.[36]

There were four commercials released in Japan for Corruption. In the first, three players, one a young male, one a more mature male and the third a young female are seen playing the game. Gandrayda and Space Pirates play as the players shoot, navigate, and battle. The gameplay footage's quality is quite high. [37] The second commercial is a shorter version of the first, featuring only the Japanese woman, and more gameplay than player. [38] The third is another shorter commercial, featuring the older male playing the game. [39] The final depicts the young male. [40]

In the first commercial, a young British man is seen demonstrating the new Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls in the game. Most of the gameplay footage is from the battle with the Space Pirates in Cargo Dock B. [41] In the second commercial, a young British woman with Samus' hairstyle is in the man's place, and most of her footage depicts battles with the Pirates and Rundas in the Temple of Bryyo. [42]

Two commercials for the game was released. Both share the same premise; footage of the game with a Wii Remote and Nunchuk in front, being used to control. At the start of both commercials, a third person Samus is seen, being controlled by the Wii Remote/Nunchuk. [50]

Three commercials were released for the game in Japan, none of them being live-action.

The first commercial features the music from the scene of Adam's demise in Sector Zero. While it had scenes that were previously shown, it also featured new footage of Samus activating her suit at the end of the Sector Zero cutscene, the flashback of Ian Malkovich's death and Samus walking through Galactic Federation Headquarters at the end of the game. Throughout the commercial, Samus speaks: "How long has it been since then...? I've always been stubborn and closed myself off to people since I lost my parents when I was young. I was too young. I was such a child..." More speech from ingame is also heard in flashback scenes. [51]

The second commercial shows footage from Metroid before the camera zooms into the running Samus sprite. It explodes and reforms as Samus in her Other M appearance, as she takes on a Cyborg Zebesian. The music playing in the commercial is during Samus' escape from Sector Zero, before she is forced to activate her Gravity Feature. The commercial shows the player utilizing the Wii Remote held sideways in Other M scenes, to compare it with the original NES Controller scheme in Metroid. At the end of the commercial, the game's Japanese boxart is shown, while Samus from Metroid runs across the screen. The phrase from the Metroid II commercial, "Metroid... Omoroido!" is heard.
[52]

The third and final commercial shows Ridley and MB for the first time since their appearances in the E3 2009 trailer. New footage is shown, and more dialogue is heard. The music playing is from the cutscene before the Ridley battle. MB's voice is heard for the first time. The commercial also brought on much speculation as to a traitor in the 07th Platoon, as the first mention of the Deleter is made in her dialogue. [53]

Two Metroid-related Japanese commercials have been released in Japan. They are not necessarily Metroid game commercials, but merely contain Metroid elements. The first is for Super Smash Bros. and features four Japanese children walking through grassy plains, and seeing Mario, Link, Kirby and Pikachu battle on stage. Samus appears in scenes of the introduction and the character select screen. [54]

There was also yet another "Who are you?" commercial, from the same series as the American Zero Mission and Echoes commercials. At the end, some school students in the crowd of players outside the video game store are wearing Samus' helmet (in its Prime appearance). [55]

Two more Metroid-related American commercials have been released. Both are related to Super Smash Bros. In the first commercial live mascots dressed as Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong and Yoshi battle each other. The only instance of a Metroid element is of Samus on the game boxart at the end. [56]

The second is for Super Smash Bros. Melee. Footage of Samus fighting Mario on Planet Zebes: Brinstar and then the scene in the intro of the fight on Ceres in Super Metroid are played in this commercial, which depicts a man observing two samurai fighters in a glass tank inside a building, with a voice saying, "That's not a fight. This is a fight."[57]